I am a green living expert with a passion for sustainable product development and actionable content. I wrote a best-selling wedding book and founded the leading green wedding website, www.greenbrideguide.com (sold to mywedding.com in 2014). I also created the country's first online certification course to teach wedding professionals how to go green. When I had my son Sterling in 2011, it became clear that the next step for my company was a baby site. I launched www.greenmomguide.com in 2013, where I write weekly posts about non-toxic and eco-friendly parenting alternatives. I am currently the Director of Merchandising & Eco-Friendly Marketing at mywedding.com, but work on a part time consulting basis as green branding expert who specializes in helping companies connect with eco-conscious consumers.

On one level, it is hilarious, but for thousands of entrepreneurs who have been rejected by Kickstarter, it is also a bit painful. “When I saw potato salad I went to Kickstarter in an attempt to crowdfund Turtleseed (a social media site that gives content a shelf life),” Brandon Blackmon told me. “I was shocked to find that while potato salad is perfectly viable, web apps are not allowed.” Neither are baby products, as I discovered a couple of years ago, which surprised me, too.

But why is Potato Salad making news when there are dozens of other “silly” projects that are being funded? For example, Amelise J. Lane pointed out that last year Ryan C. Doyle and Teddy Lo raised $7,819 to convert a ’63 Dodge dump truck chassis into a giant steel fire-breathing dragon art car that seats up to 30 people. It was dolled up with 750 meters of color-changing LED lights and entered into Artprize, where it did not win. But art qualifies on Kickstarter – so it was a go.

Cosplay photo ventures also seem to abound on Kickstarter — which JJ Samp (a cosplayer by the name of “Pyropi“) thinks is pretty ridiculous. In April, 2013, Anna Fischer raised $26,649 to take cosplayers out to remote and exotic locations to produce photos for fans to enjoy. There’s been some controversy around it — commenters are saying they’ve received no rewards for their pledges after a year, but the photos on the site are memorable. Another project by Alanaleilani raised $2,160 to make a more amateur-style cosplay calendar this year. And don’t think Indigogo is immune either. Sexy Princess Peach Cosplay raised $4,690 last year — $4,000 more than its funding goal!

But realism and usefulness aside, Kickstarter is a very popular crowdfunding platform, where the pitch matters almost as much as the product. Already there are several potato salad spin-offs including Potato Salad Art, Sweet Potato Salad, and Flappy Potato Salad (which is exactly what you think it is: Potato Salad + Flappy Bird = Flappy Potato Salad). None are doing as well as the original. It seems the crowd of potato salad lovers has moved on.

Overall, people have mixed feelings about Kickstarter, but the haters can be quite vocal. In researching projects for this post, I found a tumblr dedicated to “bad” Kickstarter ideas called Your Kickstarter Sucks. I have to say, much like the potato salad, it made it clear to me that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, because I think Flatgoods furniture is a pretty cool idea — and I can see how a Forever Bible could be useful in certain circumstances.

I think the real issue with Kickstarter is not what is there but the 40% of aspiring entrepreneurs they reject for a variety of reasons. That is a lot of ideas that are not being given a chance. In Brown’s video he says, “When we set out to make a potato salad, we couldn’t say yes to every ingredient, and there are a thousand nos for every yes.”

For those who get turned down by Kickstarter, Brown’s project is just rubbing Potato Salad into their wounds.

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You nailed it…it’s a little of both. I can only imagine if I had a project that I couldn’t get on Kickstarter. Ouch! There in lies your next story…all the crowdfunding platforms that approve everyone. (yes…contact me and add us to your list!)